Lone hybrids are not classified by anyone as new species because they usually don’t form a new group. They stay with their herd. Anyway, the melon-headed whale is a type of dolphin, so the animal spotted is a hybrid dolphin.

But here’s a typical “brand new species” news claim:

Note: The concept of speciation in general is a huge mess (see links below), principally because it is taken as confirmation of explicitly Darwinian evolution (you know, On the Origin of Species and all that… ). It’s the same sort of problem as when a religious sect seeks to confirm a miracle. They degrade the definition and damage the concept.

See also: Speciation: A bread yeast and a yeast that causes infections turn out to be the same species

The concept of a “species,” as in On the Origin of Species, may well be in itself a dated idea, especially where fast-reproducing unicellular life forms are concerned. A measure that capture fluidity is needed.

One Reply to “Is the recently cited hybrid dolphin-whale a “new species”? No.”

Those that believe the “reproductive isolation” story point to minor adaptations, which they call “speciation” (implying stability) and then ask us to extrapolate these small changes into the dramatic transmutations imagined yet never observed by Darwin or his followers. This is a classic trick – employed extensively by magicians, cinematographers and con artists among others – where one thing is shown and the brain then “sees” another that is not there.
…http://nonlin.org/speciation-problems/